Big Boy!

I decided to try Isaac in the bottom bunk to see if he would sleep better. I left the head/foot boards off so the frame is just on the floor. Aaron thought I was nuts Maybe it was just a fluke but he did awesome last night!! He woke up once and cam *running* out. It was so funny. He was thirsty so I rocked him while he drank almost an entire cup of water and he went right back to sleep. Didn't wake up until almost 7!! We'll be gone for the next 3 nights so it'll be interesting to see how he does for more than one. night. But I got Aaron to admit that maybe I was right! :)

My Baby is SEVEN!!!

Anna wanted a pool party and Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Alisha were nice enough to let us crash their house! It was just a family party, but for my family...that means close to 30 people! We're so blessed to have family that comes to celebrate with us!

 Since harvest was so early this year, Aunt Cara wanted to make her a cake. Usually, her birthday is right smack in the middle of harvest. Let's just say Aunt Cara hit a home run with this cake!! :)

 Aaron's brother and family got the kids Dave Ramsey's children's books. They teach about saving and giving. The kids love them. We recently spent quite a bit of time de-cluttering Anna's room. Her and I talked about how much is enough and how she doesn't play with a lot of her toys and what she should do with them, etc. One of the books talks about an orphanage, and we've talked about orphanages before when some friends went through an adoption. And we've talked about being thankful for what we have and not being greedy, etc etc. So when it came time to send out her birthday invitations, I asked her what she thought she should do about getting presents. She said she had too many toys as it was. Her first suggestion was to donate the toys to an orphanage. Since there isn't one nearby, I asked what else she could do. We came up with the idea of donating the money that would have been spent on her gifts to Uncle Scott's Ranch. It makes my heart sing to know that she has a heart for others and desires to give already. And our family is so incredibly generous! She raised over $100! A couple people had gotten gifts for her before I sent out the invites, so she did still have a couple of presents to open.

 Lots of cousins!

 Isaac thought Anna's horse was the perfect size for him to ride!

 Isaac crashed. Poor Jacob was sick with strep and had to stay home with Daddy. :(

 She loves her cake!!

 Isaac and I slept in Bryce's room and Isaac decided that sleep was for the birds that morning. 

 I love the mural on Bryce's wall! Amazing.

 So we went for a walk over to Great Grandpa and Grandma's house.

 Beautiful country sunrise

 Isaac LOVES the pool table at Grandma Mary's. He remembered it from the day before when he went over there with Papa & Binga.

 After a loooong day, Isaac crashed hard when we got home!

Jacob was feeling much better when we got home. When I checked on him, I found him sound asleep with his leg in the air!

Summertime Catch Up

 I have over 50 pictures on this post. Have fun :) It's been a very busy summer. Very busy.

 My cucumbers have been producing like crazy. I've made over 2 dozen jars of pickles! I finally remembered to make it to Farmer's Market this Saturday morning and sold some jars. Anybody want some pickles??

 This was our room at the Boot Hill B & B. I was pleasantly surprised by it. Very nice and delicious breakfast! We'll be going back again next year, that's how good it was.

 Had to stop at Dairy Land to celebrate being home!

 4th of July treats, not quite finished. Thanks Pintrest!

 He's such a goofball.

 4th of July cake...layers of red, white and blue cake.

 Finished. So yummy!

 Parade time...

 Fireworks...still too loud for them to really enjoy.

 She wanted to sit in my lap so I could cover her ears.

 He decided maybe the bike trailer would be quieter. It wasn't.

 For her birthday, Anna wanted to have a few friends over to Uncle Scott's and ride horses. 

 Ellie, Anna, and Ella. What a trio!

 Friends make celebrating a birthday even more fun :)

 We wore Ella out!

 Precious friends.

 Miss Leah on her miniature horse "Roni" (as in macaroni)

 Summertime has turned Isaac into a very tan, very blonde little boy!

 Now I have two very blonde boys. Not two tan boys, though...

 Waiting for Daddy...

 Salsa-making time

 Isaac was my taste-tester. He approved if the number of chips he dipped was any indication...

 Anna wanted a pool party for her birthday this year. It just so happens that her cousins now have a pool in their backyard. And I may have had ulterior motives for saying YES! :)

 I decided to move the kids around in bedrooms, putting the boys together and changing Isaac's room into a guest room. Which meant repainting the two front bedrooms. Jacob was a good helper. He put all the covers back on for me!

 Isaac just liked to climb up and down the step ladder :)

 I'm really hoping Isaac's early awareness of bathroom-related business and the fact that he has asked several times to go potty (never has actually gone potty when he's sitting there) means he will be much easier to potty train than his brother. Time will tell.......

 Some wonderful friends gave us these bunk beds. There is a bottom bed that goes where the train table is. We'll move it in when Isaac is ready to move out of his crib.

 We found a baby blue jay in the front yard last week. Isaac was fascinated and kept telling it to "shhhh!" I had just told the kids that the baby's mama was watching them from the tree. Anna and Jacob took off running. ha!

 We had a lovely round of strep go through the kids. Isaac had it the worst. It would seem that he is horribly allergic to any kind of antibiotics. On penicillin, he broke out in awful hives. He never acted very uncomfortable and you probably can't see very well, but he broke out in hives basically from head to toe.

 He loves climbing to the top bunk. No fear.

 I came home from horsemanship class to find Isaac's face swollen up like he'd been stung by 10 bees. A little scary! Benedryl wasn't helping at all. So I called his doctor (who just happens to be one of our closest friends and lives right down the alley) and she came over and checked him out. We took him to the clinic and she gave him a shot of steroids.

 He was still swollen, but the steroids had him pretty hopped up! He wasn't exactly hyper but he could not be still. So tired. Finally fell asleep around 2am after a car ride.

 Much better by morning!

 Thanks to Mom, I got both bedrooms painted and decorated (and thanks to Aunt Cara I got them organized!). Jacob and Isaac are now in Anna's old room, the bigger of the two front bedrooms.

 And Anna is now in Jacob's old room. She loves it.  :)

 I think she has a pretty good chance at being on Hoarders some day.... ;)

 Her top bunk is just waiting for a sleepover....*hint hint* I think it's time for cousins to come visit! :)

 When we can get the crib and changing table out, there will be lots of room for the boys to play.

 John Deere names :)

 Still need to make more curtains...

 My garden is doing really good this year! This is all just from one day of picking. Lots of tomatoes and cucumbers! Also pulled some carrots, peppers, and a watermelon that day! Yummmm.

 2nd trip to the dentist. It's not her favorite, but at least she doesn't scream or anything! Her front teeth are finally starting to come in...she's going to look much different!

This kid cracks me up. He wasn't the least bit nervous about going (his 2nd time also) and he did great. He talked non-stop and had all the ladies laughing.

Okay, that's all for now. I still have some pictures of Anna's birthday party to share. And we're about to leave on our 3rd (of 4!!) trip to Colorado. I'm ready for fall and hopefully things to slow down!!! (my apologies for any typos...I'm not going to proof read)